Moving to the Treasure Coast: The 2026 Relocation Guide

Money

Taxes, insurance and what a home really costs here

No state income tax, and the homestead exemption

Florida has no state income tax on wages, pensions or retirement withdrawals. If you own a home and make it your permanent residence as of January 1, you can file for the homestead exemption with the St. Lucie County, Martin County or Indian River County Property Appraiser by March 1. The exemption deducts $25,000 from assessed value for all taxes, plus a second exemption on assessed value above $50,000 that is now adjusted for inflation each year, $26,411 for 2026, for non-school taxes. After you qualify, the Save Our Homes cap limits annual increases in assessed value to 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower, and you can transfer up to $500,000 of that benefit to your next Florida home. Taxes reset for a new owner, so don't budget from the seller's current bill.

One date to know: Florida voters decide in November 2026 whether to raise the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 for people who are already Florida residents as of December 31, 2026. Under the proposal, anyone who establishes residency on or after January 1, 2027 would start with a $50,000 exemption and reach the full amount in the fifth year. It needs 60% approval to pass, so treat it as a possibility rather than a plan, but if you are deciding between closing in December and closing in January, ask about it.

Property tax rates by county

Millage rates differ by county and city. For 2025–26, Port St. Lucie's city rate is 4.975 mills after its tenth straight reduction, and St. Lucie County's own levies total about 8.0 mills, but once the school district, fire district and other authorities are added, St. Lucie County's combined rate is among the highest in Florida at close to 22 mills. Martin County's county-level rates total about 9.9 mills and Indian River County's about 6.1 mills, with Indian River holding its general fund rate flat for a seventh year. Because home values are lower in St. Lucie County, the actual bills often come out similar; run the numbers on the specific home with the county's tax estimator before you offer.

Sales tax

Florida's sales tax is 6%, plus a county surtax: 1% in St. Lucie and Indian River counties, for a total of 7%, and 0.5% in Martin and Palm Beach counties, for 6.5%, as of 2026.

Homeowners insurance

Insurance is the number most newcomers get wrong. The state's July 2026 stability report puts the average homeowners premium, including wind coverage, at $3,491 in St. Lucie County, $4,334 in Indian River County, $5,899 in Martin County and $6,323 in Palm Beach County, as of March 31, 2026, and the trend is finally down: premiums fell in 51 of 67 counties between the January and July reports, Citizens Property Insurance cut its 2026 rates by an average of 8.8%, and Citizens' policy count dropped below 300,000, its lowest in 25 years. A newer roof and impact windows make the biggest difference to your quote; insurers ask for a wind mitigation inspection, and on older homes a four-point inspection, so get quotes during your inspection period, not after closing.

Flood zones and flood insurance

Homes on the barrier islands, along the Indian River Lagoon, the St. Lucie and Loxahatchee rivers and the Intracoastal may sit in higher-risk flood zones. Most homeowners policies do not cover flood damage, homes with federally backed mortgages in A or V zones must carry flood insurance, and a new NFIP policy usually takes 30 days to take effect unless it is bought with a mortgage closing. Look up any address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, and ask your agent which Community Rating System discount applies.

Cost of living

Port St. Lucie's overall cost of living sits just under the national average (about 98.6 on BestPlaces' index, with utilities below average and groceries slightly above). FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential bill is $136.64 a month as of January 2026, and Florida car insurance is among the most expensive in the country, averaging around $236 a month for full coverage in 2026 against about $187 nationally. Median household income runs from $71,457 in St. Lucie County to $73,491 in Indian River County and $82,943 in Martin County.

Get a home value for the house you're selling

Weather

Climate and hurricane season

December through April is why you are moving: Stuart's average January high is 74°F with lows in the mid-50s. June through September is hot, humid and stormy in the afternoons, with July highs around 91°F and lows in the mid-70s, and the coast gets 50 to 63 inches of rain a year depending on the station. Locals do everything before 10 or after 6 in summer, so don't judge the place by a July visit.

Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 and peaks around September 10. Most years nothing hits; some years something does. Hurricane Nicole came ashore at Vero Beach as a Category 1 in November 2022, and in October 2024 Hurricane Milton's outer bands spawned deadly tornadoes across St. Lucie County, including an EF3 that tracked 13 miles from Fort Pierce toward the county line, even though the storm itself made landfall on the Gulf coast. Impact windows, a newer roof and a plan are the whole answer, and a wind mitigation report tells you which houses already have the first two.

Lifestyle

Living on the Treasure Coast

• The name comes from the Spanish treasure fleet lost in a 1715 hurricane off Sebastian Inlet; salvagers began recovering coins in 1961, and the McLarty Treasure Museum at Sebastian Inlet State Park tells the story.
• Beaches run the whole length: Sebastian Inlet, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce Inlet, Hutchinson Island, Bathtub Reef Beach in Stuart with its worm-reef "bathtub" at low tide, and Hobe Sound's refuge beach. See the Treasure Coast beaches guide.
• Stuart has called itself the Sailfish Capital of the World since 1957, and the St. Lucie and Jupiter inlets put offshore fishing minutes from the dock. See the fishing guide and boat club versus buying a boat.
• The Indian River Lagoon, 156 miles long with more than 4,300 species, is the backyard for kayaking, paddleboarding and manatee watching.
• Spring training: the New York Mets at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, and MLB's Jackie Robinson Training Complex, the former Dodgertown, in Vero Beach.
• Golf everywhere, including the 54 public-access holes of PGA Golf Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, designed by Tom Fazio and Pete Dye, plus dozens of club communities covered in the gated communities guide.
• Jonathan Dickinson State Park's 11,500 acres on the Loxahatchee, Florida's first National Wild and Scenic River, and the Savannas Preserve's 7,000-plus acres of freshwater marsh between Fort Pierce and Jensen Beach.
• Downtown Stuart's Lyric Theatre (1926), Fort Pierce's Sunrise Theatre (1923), the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum on North Hutchinson Island, the Vero Beach Museum of Art and McKee Botanical Garden.
• Fort Pierce's Saturday farmers market on the waterfront, Lake Okeechobee an hour west, and rocket launches from Cape Canaveral visible on clear nights.

Also see William's guides to 55+ communities, pet-friendly neighborhoods and Port St. Lucie versus Stuart, the comparison most people start with.